Don't Think About Them
by Jung Ho
Summary: Aang teaches Toph a very important lesson about listening during one of their earthbending sessions. [oneshot]


**Don't Think About Them**

by: Jung Ho

**Standard Disclaimer:** I don't own the rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender. All characters and concepts are owned by Nickelodeon.

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A slight tremor accompanied by the low growl of thunder disturbed the stillness of the morning air. The tremor as well as the thunder seemed to be coming from a strange looking rock formation that resembled something of a tent. Then, an explosion sent the sheets of rocks scattering everywhere, sending dust and debris into the air. When the dust settled, a small girl appeared where the 'tent' used to be. She started stretching and yelled, "Good morning, earthbending student!" 

She expected the reply of "good morning Sifu Toph" that she had gotten at the beginning of their first training day. Instead she was greeted with a muffled groan as her student mumbled something that sounded like "go back to sleep, Toph…"

"Wake up, Twinkle Toes!" Toph's yell was only answered with a groan of annoyance as her student only turned away, hugging his knees for warmth.

Toph heaved a heavy sigh. She just didn't get it. Just a few days ago, he would have been up before her, all excited and bright eyed, restlessly waiting for a new day of training. Now, she felt like a mother trying to get her child to wake up for school. She heard something that sounded like "five more minutes" coming from the sleeping airbender.

"I said 'Wake up, Twinkle Toes!'" Toph yelled even louder this time. As she said this, Toph made a pillar of air to catapult the surprised airbender into the sky, making him scream all the while.

Aang hit the ground hard, all of a sudden feeling wide awake. Irritated, but awake nonetheless.

While still writhing in pain, he heard a cheerful voice say, "Oh, good. You're up." When Aang finally opened his heavy eyes to look up, he saw Toph's face smiling back at him in the semi-darkness. Her milky eyes were staring back at him in a way that told him he was going to dread the morning's task.

"Morning, Twinkle Toes," said Toph in a sing-song voice. That tone was by far the scariest thing that Aang had ever heard in his entire life. "We've got work to do."

Aang groaned as he got up with a gust of air. He was rubbing the small of his back. "Toph, can't you poke me awake or something next time?"

"I did poke you, more or less. You'll just have to get used to be woken up like that if you don't get up on the first call." Toph turned around and started walking towards the sunlight. Aang huffed indignantly, wondering why they started so early everyday.

"Let's go," Toph called. "We've got a lot to cover today."

Aang turned his head so fast, he cricked his neck. "Wha?" he asked while rubbing his neck.

"What are you deaf now, Twinkle Toes? I said, 'Let's go'." She turned and headed dramatically into the sunrise. Aang, being the slacker that he was, tried to think of something to stall with, but couldn't think of a single thing. Defeated, he followed his teacher with a bowed head into the sun rise.

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They continued to walk until they reached a part of the canyon littered with boulders. There, Toph turned and started giving instruction to her unwilling and drowsy student.

"Today, we're going to try earthbending out of the ground. It's a little different than moving a rock, in that the rock is all ready to be moved. It has shape and detached so it can move freely. When bending from the ground, you need to first imagine a shape that the rock is going to be. Then, you have to bring up the surface, softening the ground so it can pass through. Got all that?"

A short pause told her that he hadn't. What fooled her was that Aang was still standing, but he had started dozing again, drifting in and out of sleep during her lecture. If she wasn't being so serious, Toph would have started laughing at his half open eyes and the small path of drool down one side of his mouth.

"Yep, Got it," Aang said in between yawns and eye rubbing. This of course, was a lie. He may have been talented with earthbending, but he was still having trouble with the basics. The problem was his slack attitude. He didn't apply himself enough. That's when Toph got an idea.

"Okay then. I want you to bend a pillar of earth out of the ground now." This captured all of Aang's attention and he was suddenly showing no signs of drowsiness. "Uh, right now?"

"Do you have a recurring hearing problem or something? Yes right now." Toph said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Aang frowned slightly and stepped up to try. Then Aang turned and asked, "Uh, can I have an example?"

Aang's request was answered with a sigh as Toph shook her head and said, "You don't need an example for this one, Air head. It's not that different then bending boulders, just the extra step of visualizing. Besides, I gave you one already."

Aang now had a look of genuine confusion. "When?"

Toph smirked. "When I woke you up. Now stop stalling and start bending."

Having no more excuses, Aang grudgingly stepped in front of an open clearing, turning to face Toph when he reached the end. Wearing a face of determination, he tried to visualize the pillar coming out of the ground, right underneath Toph, sending her flying. What he'd give so see the tables turned, to see Toph in the air screaming instead of him. He smirked at this image as he then trusted the air with the heel of his hand, only to be launched into the air by his own pillar.

Toph was on the ground, doubled up with laughter as Aang screamed the entire time in the air, only to land, once again, on his back with a resounding thud. "Nice try, Twinkle Toes. Now again without making a fool of yourself."

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Aang had been practicing for the better half of four hours. He was determined to knock Toph off her high horse. He was annoyed with how she acted like she knew everything. Just once, he'd like to be good enough at earthbending to surprise Toph.

Again, for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, he assumed a deep horse stance. He took a few deep, calming breaths before closing his eyes to visualize a pillar of earth rising out of the ground. Toph had suggested a target for where the pillar should appear. He imagined the boulder in front of him being sent into the air by his pillar. He opened his eyes and, once again, thrust the heel of his hand into the air.

Unlike his first attempt, his pillar of rock came out of the ground as a loose pillar of pebbles and rocks. It retained its shape until it was about four feet high and crumbled. This only added to his irritation of his teacher. So much so, that he tried to kick one of the larger rocks. Needless to say, he failed to send it flying into the horizon. He stubbed his toe and started bouncing on one foot, clutching his foot as if it was going to fall off.

But something was wrong. It was then Aang realized that there was no mocking laughter. He turned to where Toph was sitting underneath the tempting shade of a tree. She was wearing an expression of a dreamer, looking into the sky for answers to life's unsolved mysteries.

"Toph?" Aang approached cautiously, as he would if he was trying to touch a barrel of blasting jelly.

"Huh? Wha?" Toph jerked her head from its previous position. She suddenly got defensive, as if Aang had mentioned her blindness. "What do you want, Twinkle Toes?"

"What were you thinking about?" asked a genuinely curious Aang. He sat down next to Toph, silently thanking the spirits that Toph didn't notice anything strange about him sitting down.

"Well, you actually." When Toph said this, Aang's heart started speeding up, a look of bewilderment on his face. "It's just, how can you be so calm all the time?" Aang's pulse slowed down after that. Aang let out a silent sigh of relief. "What'd you mean?"

"I mean you're supposed to be the Avatar! You're the one who's supposed to end this war. You're supposed to be a great bender, master of the four elements, right?" Aang shrugged. "I guess so."

"So then why aren't you more serious about this? You can't bend earth out of the ground. You can't even listen to lectures while staying awake! How are you going to end this war?" Toph wore an expression of slight worry that did not suit her. Aang had never seen Toph worry about anything, but here she was, telling him that she was scared for the world.

Again, Aang shrugged. "I'll figure out a way." A stunned Toph stared at the airbender has he began looking at the clouds, not unlike how Toph was before. "I don't have any set plan of how I'm going to do it, but I'll stop this war before the comet comes. I'll figure out a way."

Toph recovered enough to put on a slight grin as she turned to lie down and said, "Well, if that's true, I'm sure I'm not the only one afraid for the world and the outcome."

Aang then lied down next to Toph, with both of his hands behind his head and crossed his legs to get a better view of the sky from under their tree. "Nothing I can do about that."

"What?" Toph was really confused now. "How can you not care what the world thinks of you? After all, it's them you're saving. You're just saving some people who don't think of you can do it. How can you save people like that?"

"Simple." Aang switched his legs, since his stubbed toe was preventing him to be comfortable. Toph waited with baited breath for his answer. "Don't think about it." After a short pause, he turned to look at Toph who was wearing a face of complete confusion. Her face looked as if it was warped by invisible hands as if she had been the victim of a ghost's horrible prank. He had a fit of silent laughter before continuing.

"I try not to think of what they say, since it might mess me up. If one person says I'm the best bender in the world, and I listen to that, I'll get a huge head, get cocky, and probably not have you guys traveling with me." Toph entertained the idea of a cocky, egotistical Aang. She thought of the airbender, not traveling by flying bison, but by ostrich-horse drawn carriage, leaving Katara, Sokka, and herself to carry luggage. He was also refused to practice his bending since he was convinced he could do it later in a snap. Toph just had to laugh at this thought. It just didn't seem like the Aang she knew.

"And then there could be the person who would say I'm doing a lousy job of keeping the peace, been gone for a hundred years, and a bunch of other flaws that might have nothing to do with me." At this, Aang started thinking about the fisherman who first ridiculed him because he was gone for a century. Now that he thought about it now, though, it didn't sting like it used to. Maybe because he had apologized. "I'd probably start training all day, becoming obsessed with learning as much as I could before the comet comes. When the comet finally came, I wouldn't be able to do anything, probably because I'd be sleeping." Toph then thought of an Aang that would refuse to sleep, training his butt off, and refusing food because it was a waste of energy. Toph was very glad that he wasn't like that.

"Now, suppose you were in my position, Toph." Toph suddenly sat a little straighter, to show that she was listening. "If you heard both of these things, what would you think?"

Toph thought about it and slowly answered, "I'd probably be confused about how good I am."

"Exactly. If I took both of these seriously, I'd be worried about how the world thought of me, worrying so much it might distract me, probably keeping me from focusing on saving the world. Besides, there are millions of people counting on me to save them, but there are also gonna be people who don't approve of how I'm doing it. There're too many people in the world to think about it like that." This made sense to Toph. Thinking about what other people say about you is only a distraction. There was no way anybody could please that many people. Thinking about criticisms would only make it harder to do anything properly. But there was one other thing bothering her.

"Then why do you listen when Katara or I say something?" This was true. Toph had teased him many times during his training, and every time, he would suddenly put more effort into it, trying to prove Toph wrong. She had also seen him listen intently as Katara gave him tips on waterbending.

"Well, what you think are important to me, especially when you guys are my friends and my teachers. Not listening to you is not just saying I don't want to learn, but that I don't wanna keep you guys safe." Toph smiled that he cared enough for his friends to want to protect them. And now, she knew why he had such a slacker attitude. Now that she was unburdened by this conundrum, she decided that there was no more reason for Aang to be resting.

"Well, what if I said to get up and start earthbending?" Toph asked in the same sweet voice she had used that morning.

"Hmm?" Aang was so relaxed; it didn't completely sink in that Toph as caught him slacking off. "Sorry. What'd you say?"

"I said to get back up because you've already had a long enough break. Hop to it, Twinkle Toes!" Toph was suddenly much more cheerful, being back in her element of bossing him around.

"Now?" Aang asked with dread. "But I stubbed my toe."

Toph had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "I'm pretty sure it's better, Twinkle Toes. You switched legs back to you're stubbed toe's foot. See?"

Aang, with some horror saw that she was right; he had just presented evidence that he could walk again. "Get to it!"

Grumbling, Aang slowly picked himself up and started lazily walking back towards his practicing area. Toph waited for a few moments before shouting. "Rock like!" Aang immediately yelped a cry of surprise and accordingly, fell down. "And work on you're horse stance while your at it, Twinkle Toes." Toph grinned and settled herself back into her spot by the tree 'watching' Aang start earthbending again. "It's not deep enough."

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Several days later after that training session, the group made their way to a marketplace to restock on supplies. They had split up into pairs, hoping that the shopping would get done quicker. Aang and Toph were walking down the alley, looking for some vegetables. They stopped at one stand, when they heard a man harass the seller. "You call this ripe? These are the worst cabbages I've ever seen!" He kicked the cart down causing his cabbages to roll out everywhere. The man laughed at the man while he looked on in terror, screaming "my cabbages!" and almost fainted at the sight of his ruined cart.

"Let's go somewhere else, Toph. Uh, these aren't the vegetables we're looking for." They started walking away when Toph collided with an Earth Kingdom soldier who was harassing the 'Cabbage Man'.

"Watch where you're goin', little girl," the soldier said gruffly.

"I can't," Toph said automatically.

The soldier then attack Toph when he looked closer to see Toph's clouded eyes. He again roared with laughter. "I was gonna knock some manners into ya, but there's no way I'm gonna hurt a poor little fragile blind girl like you."

Aang felt trouble coming. He was sure that Toph was going to explode and turn the alleyway into a junkyard, attacking the soldier unmercifully. He expected screams and yells of frightened people running in every direction; he expected complete chaos. Instead, he heard Toph sweetly smiled and said, "Thanks soldier. Hey, maybe by the time you're pea-sized brain sees what's wrong with that statement, you'll have some manners to actually teach me next time I meet you. Let's go, Twinkle Toes."

Almost as if scripted, the Earth Kingdom soldier started fuming as Toph and Aang walked passed him. The other stand owners were murmuring to each other, how a blind girl stood up to the worst bully of the local army. The wounded soldier then bended a stone out of the ground and hurled it at Toph.

Aang yelled, "Toph! Look out!"

Toph then erected a wall of rock and the oncoming stone became embedded in the wall. Then Toph smirked at what she imagined was shocked pause of the bully soldier and kicked the ground sending a stream of upturned earth towards the man. He was still surprised at Toph's amazing ability to earthbend that he was caught completely off guard and thrown off his feet by the upturned bricks. Toph then made a mocking smile at the soldier and walked away, leaving Aang to quickly run after her.

When Aang finally caught up to her, Toph asked, "So, what'cha think, Twinkle Toes? Think I did a good job of not listening?"

A stunned Aang recovered enough to feign anger and asked, "What are you talking about? You provoked him!"

Toph shrugged. "He shouldn't have listened to the 'poor little blind girl'." She smiled a genuine smile.

Aang smiled back and replied. "Yeah. I guess not."

"Well, what're you waiting for? We've got a couple more things to buy before we can meet up with Katara and Sokka." She took off down the alley.

Aang just watched, smiling for a moment, the started running after her, proud that he was able to teach his teacher something.

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**A/N:** _So... My first try at a oneshot fic. And even more so, it has actual canon characters in it! Did I write anything OOC? Hope I didn't.  
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_I wrote very poor Toph/Aang moments in here. Don't think they'd actually get together, but they present a pretty good dynamic. _

_The idea that Aang didn't care about what other people thought about him came from after "The Storm" when the fisherman apologized and thanked Aang. I thought that maybe it was something that Aang may have learned from that whole experience. Also, Toph seemed to be a character that was always self-consious of how people saw her, obviously. I thought that this trait I thought for Aang would confuse Toph. _

_ The idea that one shouldn't care what other people say is something I have tried to work on since I read it somewhere. It seems stupid to try to change yourself because somebody says it's not good enough. It seems equally idiotic that a compliment would go to somebody's head and cause an ego boost. It just doesn't seem like something people should worry about. I hope this oneshot has convinced you to at least try to use the same technique.  
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_Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading and please review. Anything to make my writing better. _


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